Aboslutely no concept of customer care

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ReynaldoMatthews61's review of Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.co.uk

“Aboslutely no concept of customer care”

★☆☆☆☆

written by ReynaldoMatthews61 on 23/06/2014

This company has let down my daughter very badly and rather than write it all out again I have copied my original letter to Ticketmaster's UK MD and the response I have received form a Ticketmaster representative as well as my reply. It is a bit lengthy but please perseveer as I would urge anyone to use an alternative ticket agen wherever possible.

My original letter to Ticketmaster

In February this year I ordered a Parklife VIP weekender ticket for my daughter. This was bought on the basis that she had worked hard at school and was expected to do well in her exams and would be able to celebrate the end of exams with her friends at the above festival.
The tickets had not arrived by the 29th May so I contacted Ticketmaster, this involved making numerous calls to a premium rate phone number and holding on for over 30 minutes at a cost of £0.40 per minute from my mobile.
I spoke to John Meszlenyi who told me that although there was only just over a week to go until the event Ticketmaster had still not received permission from the organisers to send out my daughter's ticket. John instructed me to give a letter of authority to my daughter who would then be able to collect the ticket from the box office at the event on the day. There was no other option as I was due to be away the following week and had no way to get the tickets (if they arrived in time) to my daughter in Macclesfield.
On the day of the concert my daughter called me at around 11:30 to advise me that she had been standing in a queue at the event for almost two hours in the pouring rain as there were lots of people in the queue for the box office and only two ticket windows open. By this time she was on her own as her friends had gone in ahead to the festival site.
I then telephoned Ticketmaster which once again involved a long wait on a premium rate number and spoke to someone called Dan (Your company policy not to give out surnames due to security reasons (laughable)) who advised me that although he understood my frustration there was in fact nothing he could do as Ticketmaster had no one on site at the event. I did point out to him that I was not in fact frustrated but extremely angry that my daughter was forced to undergo this ordeal due to Ticketmaster’s ineptitude and inability to provide the required ticket on time. I appreciate that this was due to the promoters not having given authority for all the tickets to be released in time, however that is no concern of mine as my contract was not with the promoters but with Ticketmaster.
I then called my daughter and advised her that unfortunately there was no other option other than to continue waiting. I was relieved slightly when she told me that the queue was in fact moving a bit quicker by then.
I then flew to Paris for the rest of the weekend as I had a previous engagement.
Imagine my horror when I returned to the UK on Monday and rang my daughter to find out how she enjoyed the festival only to learn that when she had eventually reached the front of the queue and presented the letter of authority along with the required ID she was told that they had no authority to release her ticket. She then had no choice but to return home absolutely despondent at missing the festival as well as the opportunity to celebrate with her classmates.
That very same day I once again called ticketmaster (again on a premium rate number) to express my anger and to find out what had transpired on the day.
The person I spoke to , Tony (again no surname) again empathised with me (obviously included in Ticketmaster training) and advised me that he would look into what had transpired on the day in question.
Tony has telephoned me every day this week and informed me that he is having difficulty getting hold of the Warehouse Project (I think) account manager who this weekend is at the Isle of Wight festival. I find it unbelievable that in this day of mobile communications someone can be out of contact for over a week. Even if this were to be the case am I seriously to believe that there is no one else in either organisation who can resolve this issue.
My complaint is not with the organisers responsible for the event but with Ticketmaster with whom I originaly contracted. I now advise you that I expect a full refund for the full amount to be repaid to me as well as appropriate compensation for my daughter's wasted time and dissapointment so as to to allow her to treat her 5 friends to a suitable end of term celebration.
I look forward to your reply and please do not tell me about Ticketmaster's regret about failing to meet is usual levels of customer service on this occasion because quite frankly we have now gone past the point where a corporate apology will suffice.

Ticketmaster reply

Dear Derek,

I’ve been asked to contact you personally on behalf of Simon Presswell, Managing Director of Ticketmaster UK, about your email to us earlier this week.

Firstly, I’m very sorry to hear that your daughter wasn’t issued with tickets at the box office, and I do fully appreciate the disappointment that it caused her on the day to have to return home without getting into the festival.

As a ticket agent, we sell on behalf of the event promoters – it’s our job to secure your tickets, but our clients take care of organising the event itself. We didn’t have any staff onsite for this festival, so we sent full details of your order to the promoters who agreed that the ticket would be available to collect at Heaton Park on the day, so it’s disappointing to hear that this wasn’t the case. We have launched a full investigation into why this happened, and this is something that will be dealt with internally to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

I’ve now issued a full refund for your order, so you’ll see a credit of £128.50 to your Visa card within 5-10 working days. While we’re not liable beyond the cost of the booking, given the circumstances we’re also happy to look into arranging a refund of your daughter’s travel expenses – if you could let me know what her total travel expenses were, this will be taken into consideration with the promoters.

I’m sorry again for the disappointment caused, and I hope to hear back from you soon.

My reply

Thank you for your prompt reply which as I had originally feared was full of corporate angst with no genuine concern for the dissapointment endured by my daughter as a result of ticketmaster's ineptitude. You state that Ticketmaster are not liable beyound the cost of the booking which I fully appreciate is your legal position however in making my original request for compensation for my daughter I was hopeful that Ticketmaster might feel some moral obligation to make amends. Obviously this is not the case. As for my daughters travel expenses on the day, please do not embarrass yourselves any further.
Furthermore please do not insult my intelligence by stating that you "have launched a full internal investigation into why this happened........to ensure this doesn't happen again". How do you expect an internal investigation to resolve what you have stated was the fault of a third party, the promoters.
be assured that I will publicise this debacle on various forums.

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